Prince Yadav bowls Kohli for rare IPL chase duck

For once, the chase master walked back before the chase had even begun.

Virat Kohli lasted 2 balls against Lucknow Super Giants. A sharp 140.4 kph inswinger from Prince Yadav crashed into his off-stump, and the noise around the ground dropped in an instant.

For RCB, chasing 209 in 19 overs, that was not just an early wicket. It was a punch to the stomach. Kohli, in strong IPL 2026 form, was gone for 0 while chasing for the first time since 2017.

Prince Yadav finds his moment

Young fast bowlers dream of this kind of wicket.

Not a tailender. Not a mis-hit. Not a soft dismissal at the boundary. Prince Yadav beat Kohli properly, with pace, movement and nerve.

The ball came in fast, angled sharply, and left Kohli playing the wrong line. His off-stump went back. No debate, no review drama, no escape route.

That wicket also carried a neat bit of IPL history. Since Dhawal Kulkarni in 2016, Prince became only the second bowler to dismiss Kohli for a duck in the IPL in this manner of early damage.

For a young bowler, such a scalp travels faster than any press conference. Batters remember it. Captains remember it. Selectors also tend to remember it, even if they pretend otherwise.

Prince finished with 3 wickets, and this was not just about Kohli. He kept returning at important moments, which matters in a shortened, rain-hit game where one poor over can undo 15 good ones.

Marsh century sets up Lucknow

Lucknow’s win did not come only from one magic ball.

Mitchell Marsh gave them the platform with a superb 111. In a 19-over innings, that is not just a century. That is control of the match tempo.

When rain cuts a game short, batting sides often get confused. Some go too hard too early. Some leave too much for the end. Marsh found the middle path.

He attacked enough to keep Lucknow ahead, but he did not throw away the innings. That matters because DLS was always lurking.

DLS, or the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, adjusts targets in rain-hit matches. In simple terms, it asks this question: how many runs should a team need, given how many overs and wickets remain?

Lucknow made RCB chase 209 in 19 overs. That is a steep ask even on a flat pitch. Nicholas Pooran added 38, while captain Rishabh Pant stayed unbeaten on 32.

Those runs from Pooran and Pant were not decorative. They pushed the total from competitive to uncomfortable.

For RCB, Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya and Rasikh Salam Dar took 1 wicket each. But Lucknow had already done enough damage with the bat.

RCB chase loses shape early

RCB’s chase started badly and never fully recovered.

Their opening pair was back with just 9 on the board. In a chase above 200, that kind of start makes everyone bat with a calculator in their head.

Rajat Patidar and Devdutt Padikkal did bring the innings back to life. Their 95-run stand for the third wicket gave RCB a real route into the match.

Patidar, as captain, had to do more than score. He had to calm the dressing room after Kohli’s wicket and keep the required rate within reach.

Padikkal played his part too. Together, they stopped the innings from folding early. For a while, RCB looked ready to make Lucknow sweat.

But once Patidar fell, the chase began to crack. Wickets came in a cluster, and the asking rate started climbing again.

In T20 cricket, collapses rarely look dramatic at first. A batter holes out. Another misses a straight one. Suddenly, the dugout is tense and every single feels too small.

Tim David threatens late twist

Tim David then did what finishers are paid to do.

He smashed 40 off just 17 balls and gave RCB one last push. That strike rate kept the game alive deep enough for Lucknow to feel pressure.

But a late burst cannot always repair an early hole. RCB had already lost too much time and too many wickets.

Lucknow won by 9 runs under DLS. In a game shaped by rain, that margin may sound narrow. On the field, it reflected how well Lucknow held the key moments.

Shahbaz Ahmed also chipped in with 2 wickets. That support mattered because Prince could not win the match alone, however good his spell looked.

This is where T20 often turns cruel. One team can have a top-order fightback, a finisher’s cameo and still lose. The scoreboard rewards timing, not sentiment.

For Kohli, this will sting because it was rare. For Prince Yadav, it may become the clip that follows him for years. And for RCB fans, it is another reminder that in a chase, even one famous wicket can change the temperature of the entire night.

The larger lesson is simple. IPL matches still turn on human moments, even with all the data, match-ups and analysts in the background. One young bowler gets the ball to jag back at 140.4 kph, one great batter misreads it, and thousands of people suddenly know the chase has become harder. That is why this league keeps pulling people back every summer.